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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

With the help of a smartphone app, you can now order dinner, hire a driver, or even schedule a housecleaner. Whatever it is you need, there's probably an app for that. But does all this convenience come at a cost? This hour, the rise of the on-demand economy, and how it's changing the nature of...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In this hour of To The Best of Our Knowledge, Susan Sontag reflects on how photographs help us experience other people’s pain. And, as the country faces war, we’ll hear stories about our great patriotic songs, and find some comfort in the ancient Sufi poet, Rumi.Read more

goggles

“Gifts make slaves, like whips make dogs” is a saying from Greenland’s Inuit culture.
How do you feel when someone gives you a gift? Grateful? Uncomfortable? Indebted?

Our guests weigh in on how major philanthropy could change the world, and the donors themselves. And one woman's...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

”My solid pigeon, that drape is a killer-diller, an E-flat Dillinger, a bit of a fly thing all on one page.”  Any idea what that means?  It’s hipster slang for “My, that’s a nice dress you’re wearing.”  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge the roots of hipster slang – old movies, pulp...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

 After one of the ugliest and most divisive presidential races in history -- can America heal? Weeks of vitriolic campaign rhetoric have taken a toll on friends and families. A majority of voters are disgusted with politics and don’t believe the next president will be able to unite the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Would you recognize a genius if you met one?  We’ll introduce you to four geniuses – or at least four people who just landed MacArthur “genius" awards: classical pianist Jeremy Denk, jazz musician Vijay Iyer, fiction writer Karen Russell and astrophysicist Sara Seager.  Also, practical tips on...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

A year and a half ago Gary Wolkstein’s doctor told him he had cancer of the spine, that it was terminal, and that he had just a few months left to live.  Today Gary’s in fine health.  Not, it wasn’t a miracle cure, it was a mistake.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge,...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Subdivisions. Industrial Parks. Strip Malls. Gridlock. Sprawl is socially unequal, environmentally irresponsible, and aesthetically ugly. Right? We'll look at the costs and, YES, the benefits of suburban sprawl. Because maybe, just maybe, sprawl is a good thing.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Many people treat it as a national holiday, more Americans watch it than vote in presidential elections, and it leaves an economic footprint larger than the Gross Domestic Product of 49 countries: it's Super Bowl Sunday. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll go behind the scenes of...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Once upon a time people believed the world was populated with terrible monsters and fabulous mythical beasts. They thought if they just searched long enough and hard enough, they'd find them. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the mythical beasts of folktale and legend and the modern...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The public sees a politician one way.  A political cartoonist sees something else entirely.  What makes a good political cartoon?  We’ll get some answers from Steve Brodner, one of the most savage illustrators at work in the United States.  It’s The New Toons in this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It's been more than four decades since the Civil Rights movement ended racial segregation in America. Yet few would say African-Americans are now fully integrated – or assimilated. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, African American writers talk about race, and how black history –...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Uncovering the real story in Iraq is getting harder.  Western journalists have become targets, just like American soldiers.  And reporters now take elaborate precautions to avoid being killed or kidnaped.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we'll talk about the hazards of war reporting...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

“Good fences make good neighbors." Robert Frost writes in Mending Wall.  Is he right? Maybe homemade chocolate chip cookies or lending a lawnmower are more neighborly. I guess it depends on who your neighbors are.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Where’s James Bond when you need him?  You have to wonder about the spy business after the dubious information that was used to justify America’s war against Iraq.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, an argument for revealing all the secrets to the public.  And, a look back at Anthony...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Her novel “Bel Canto” was a hit so now novelist Ann Patchett is a star.  But back when they were in college, it was her fellow student Lucy Grealy who got treated like a rock star.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a look at uncommon friendships.  Ann Patchett tells how her...Read more

Fitbit and notebooks

A few years ago, the notion of the "quantified self" was the domain of a relatively small group of hackers, engineers, and computer enthusiasts. Now, under its many names—lifelogging, self-tracking, fitness monitoring—it's become one of the fastest growing segments of the technology...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The past is nebulous - a place no one can go.  When we try to get our bearings there, we often find more than one truth.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll go back to Vietnam with Senator Bob Kerrey.  And, one woman pieces together her past in war-torn Liberia.  Also, paying...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Science and the Search for Meaning: Five Questions, Part 3: Does the Soul Still Matter?

For centuries, we’ve been told the soul is what makes each of us unique.  It’s why we have moral responsibility.  And it’s the part of us that lives on after we die. ...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Are humans innately violent? If you stripped the civilization out of us, just how bad would we be?Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Who did the press hail as the conqueror of the air?  Alberto Santos-Dumont, who flew around the Eiffel Tower while Jules Verne and H.G. Wells watched and wondered.  He even tied his “personal airship” to the lamp posts outside restaurants in Paris, and worked to revolutionize transportation. ...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

On February 13th, 1945 Kurt Vonnegut and other American POWs were hiding in a cellar during the firebombing of Dresden.  They were remarkably lucky, as 135,000 people died that night.  During the bombing one soldier said, “I wonder what the poor people are doing tonight?”  Nobody laughed but, as...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Salman Rushdie's new novel is called "The Enchantress of Florence." It's a tale of two cities, consisting of stories tucked inside stories tucked inside stories...along the lines of Scheherazade's stories of "One Thousand and One Nights." In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Salman...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Read any good life-list books lately? How about "1,000 Places You Must Visit Before You Die?" or "1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die." There's no shortage of "life-list" books to read these days. What's next? "1,000 Life-List Books You Must Read Before You Die"? Probably. We'll explore...Read more

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